N400b: ‘I never signed payment vouchers for Nyako, others’

Mr Ibrahim Emmanuel, a prosecution witness in the ongoing N40billion fraud trial of former Adamawa governor, Murtala Nyako, said he never signed payment voucher for any of the defendants in the case.

Emmanuel, a former Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Youth and Sports, made the declaration on Wednesday before a Federal High Court, Abuja, during cross-examination by one of the defence counsel, Mr Olumide Olujimi.

He said that as the permanent secretary, he was the chief accounting officer and that whenever the accountant brought monies from the bank, the beneficiaries would collect and utilise it for various purposes.

Emmanuel further added that at no time did Nyako, his son or any of the other seven defendants benefit from such monies.

Earlier, while being led in evidence by Mr Rotimi Jacobs, the prosecuting counsel, Emmanuel said that as the chief accounting officer of the ministry, the accountant always brought the cash from the bank to him before disbursing to the various beneficiaries.